Love is Ignorance
by Xlovestory33X
Summary: After KC's basketball game, he walks Clare home. But Reese enters and ruins the night. Reese's actions cause Clare to say something she regrets...or so she thinks. KC/Clare. Two-Shot
1. Chapter 1

KC is walking Clare home from his basketball game where he was the highest scorer and the player with the most assists. He finally proved to Coach Armstrong that he deserved his captain position.

Holding Clare's hand, he knew that this night couldn't get any better. He had finally gotten his captain position and the girl of his dreams. While walking, KC tells Clare about his buzzer beater. He says, "I'm surprised it went in!"

"That's what she said!...wait, this is Virgin Clare we're talking about. You would never get any from her!" shouts Reese, who came up from behind them along with five of his friends.

"That's why she's smarter than any of the girls you would ever get. What's your problem?" KC fires back at him, at an attempt to defend Clare.

"See, this is why Coach Armstrong shouldn't have made you the team captain. I'm better, faster, and stronger than you are. Here I'll prove it!" And with that, Reese slightly pushes KC back.

Frightened, Clare tugs at KC's sleeve hinting him to get out of there. KC turns towards her and tells her, "Clare, you should leave." As he says this, Reese comes up behind them and pushes KC from the back, causing KC to stumble, but Clare to almost fall. Luckily KC wrapped his arms around her and kept her from falling. Clare realizes that KC is right. She needs to leave, and with that, she runs down the block to her house, leaving KC to deal with Reese and his gang.

As Clare is running, she refuses herself to look back, knowing that if she did, she would have the urge to go back. Walking up her porch steps, she took one glance and her heart clenched with fear. She ran into her house, locking the door behind her. Grabbing the phone, she did the first thing that came to mind; dialed 911.

"Oh, real noble Reese, its six on one. Some tough guy you are."

"Shut up braniac." And with that, Reese threw the first punch, and the fight began.

Taking the hit, KC was provoked, but he knew that he couldn't fight back because if he got into another fight, by judges orders, he would violate his probation.

Peeking through her window, Clare sees that KC isn't fighting back. Shocked, she runs outside in a pathetic attempt to help him. She jumps in between KC and Reese, believing that Reese would never hit a girl. She was wrong. Her presence aggravated him even more, and he had an overload of adrenaline. He prepared to punch Clare with all his power, but right before he could hit her, KC pulls her back and takes the blow. At the same moment KC falls to the ground, the sirens on the ambulance are getting louder. Reese yells, "They're coming. RUN!" Leaving Clare alone with an unconscious KC.

Clare kneels down next to KC's body. "KC! KC! Can you hear me?!"

The sirens are getting closer.

"I'm right here KC!"

The sirens are sounding louder.

"KC, I…I love you."

The ambulance arrives.


	2. Chapter 2

Clare wakes up to the beeping of the heart monitor. She sees the IV tubes and other strange instruments hooked up to KC's body. Sitting on the right side of KC's hospital bed, she is playing with the tips of his fingers that are coming out of the cast on his right arm. She looks up at his bruised and cut face and last night's happenings come back to her. Everything is so clear—the fight with Reese, the sirens approaching, and most of all her confession.

"_I don't know why I said it. Did I really mean it? Is it possible for someone my age to know what love is? Maybe it was a mistake. KC probably didn't even hear me, he was knocked out. That's also my fault. I didn't come fast enough." _Her cheek feels wet. As she wipes the liquid away, she realizes that she's been crying.

"Clare?" whispers KC with the energy he has left. Clare barely heard it because it was so soft. But she heard it. Then she looks up at him, restraining herself from hugging him, she knew with all the pain his body has been through, it wouldn't help.

"Uh…KC, I'll go get you a nurse." Says Clare a bit awkwardly. She gets up to leave, and she hears her name again. She turns around and KC is holding up his left hand for her to come over to him. She pulls up a chair beside his bed, and their fingers intertwine. Seeing that Clare is still crying, he lifts his broken arm to wipe away her tears with the tips of his fingers.

"I'm sorry." Mumbles Clare as she leans back and wipes away her own tears.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. If it weren't for me, Reese would never have been there last night."

"But I jumped into the fight even though you told me not to. I just made Reese angrier."

"Clare, that's why I told you to stay out of it," Says KC sternly.

"Well, do you think it was easy for me to just stand there and watch you get beat up?" Clare responds. "I mean you weren't even fighting back."

"You know what would happen if I did."

There is a slight pause in their conversation. "I know, I know. Your probation."

KC looks at Clare a little disappointed. "Clare, I could care less about my probation. It's the fact that if I violated it, then I wouldn't be able to attend Degrassi or see you anymore."

She stares back at him in shock. No one besides her family had ever spoken to her with such care and concern before.

He looks at her a bit more seriously. "Clare, exactly what happened after I was...um...knocked out?"

"Well, Reese and his friends heard the sirens in the distance and cowardly ran away. I just kneeled next to you and all I heard were the sirens slowly approaching."

"That's not all I heard Clare."

Her eyes widen in shock. _"He could not possibly have heard me. That was a terrible blow. No way was he conscious." _

He looks at her with an anxious expression. "Clare, I heard you say that you love me."

KC is patiently waiting for Clare to respond to his statement, but all she does is stare straight at him. Neither of them speaks or fills in the long and awkward silence in the conversation. He decides to sit up and get closer to Clare, but as he props himself up on his elbows, he realizes how much pain his body is in. He unwillingly lets out a moan of pain.

Clare looks up and immediately uses her free hand to push KC back down. Of course, normally this force would barely move KC, but he gives in today. "I don't think that's the best idea," she tells him.

Instead of him coming closer to her, she sits up on the edge of his hospital bed bringing herself closer to him. By now, her eyes have wondered to their intertwined hands, but she can feel KC's eyes dig into her soul.

KC is the first to break the ice. "Clare?"

She is still unusually curious about their interlocked fingers. She feels his fingers under her chin, titling her head and forcing her to look straight into his eyes.

She ponders over the situation and after evaluating it, she responds, "A lot of people say things they don't mean in the heat of the moment." **(A/N: Totally had to use a Degrassi episode name in this.) **

KC looks back at her with a mixture of anger and disappointment on his face. "So nothing you say means anything anymore?"

"Of course it does."

"Then tell me you love me. If you mean what you say, then you can say it again."

Clare looks at him with sadness on her face. She never meant to say it, it just slipped out. Her silence gives KC his answer, but he still questions her.

With a confused face he asks, "Why are you so afraid of me?" Clare is still oblivious to his questions. Something clicked in KC's head and he asked the question that would answer it all. "Are you scared that I won't say it back?"

She continues to stare at him, but something in her eyes told him that she definitely feared his response.

"If that's the case Clare, then I'll go first."

She looks at him stunned with his boldness.

KC takes a deep breath and looks her straight in the eye. "Clare, I love you."

She wanted to say it back, but as much as her heart was advocating a confession, her mouth wouldn't open. She tried, but she was unable to speak up.

For the first time that day, KC was the one to stare off into space and not keep eye contact with Clare. He turns his head to the right, away from her, a look of disappointment and frustration on his face. He tells her, "Its ok if you don't want to say it back. If you're not ready, I'll wait."

There was something in the way that he talked and expressed himself that caused Clare to act impulsively again. "No."

His head snaps back towards her and searches her face for clarification.

"I do KC. I love you too."

She wasn't sure if it was the right decision, but when he lifted his smiling face and caught her lips, she knew that even if it wasn't right, it sure felt right.

At that moment she knew that she, Clare Edwards, the girl who was always in Darcy's shadow, loves and is loved by KC Guthrie, the smart skater who opened her up the first day they met with eight simple, but meaningful words: "You're so much more than the smart one."

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated =)**


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